Another Generation
by Strawberry Toothpaste
Summary: A story that follows the next generation to enter Hogwarts!  Friendships, romances, and rivalries are forming between the children who attend Hogwarts, life at which is just as exciting 21 years after the books leave off.  SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7.


**WARNING: CONTAINS MANY SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER #7**

Hello everyone! Strawberry Toothpaste here... I finished reading the recent Harry Potter book, and felt that this was something extremely necessary to write. The first chapter will be the shortest. Different parts of the story will follow different characters. This story will contain romance, and the T rating is for suggestive comments. If you have any suggestions, comments, theories, ideas, or spot an error somewhere, tell me about it in a review. No flames. I do not consider constructive criticism flames. This story is based on the epilogue, but takes place 2 years after it and does not follow it strictly.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. We'd have gotten more kisses in the recent books if I did.

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**Another Generation**

Chapter 1

Isolation

The room was dark and nearly silent, the quiet broken only by the gentle breathing of the child who was curled up in the blankets. His parents and their friends had always praised his appearance, calling him a miniature version of his father. Until 2 years ago, the boy had always smiled brightly at this, proud of his heritage like so many others in his family. Then he'd gotten on the train, and slowly begun to realize that very few people shared his view of his parents these days. It didn't help that, no matter how much he looked like his father, when it came to personality, the similarities were few and hard to find. He fit in nowhere.

Encased in his dreams of red and gold, the blonde child had no idea of the owl that was approaching his window until it began scratching at the glass with its talons. His eyes shot open suddenly, and he pushed the blankets off of himself with a mix of panic and excitement. School owls did not come at this time of night, and there was only one other person who wrote to him. He forced the window open, and the tawny owl flew in through the opening and settled down on the edge of his windowsill. He looked down at the envelope.

_Scorpius Malfoy_

A grin spread out across his face. It was from just who he had hoped it would be from, he recognized her handwriting. He tore the envelope open while the owl that had delivered it waited patiently nearby. Inside were a letter and a photo. He took a good look at the photograph before reading the letter. There were 2 Gryffindors smiling up at him, a scrawny brown-haired boy with a bit of an overbite and a pale blonde girl who was laughing silently in the picture. He felt a slight pang of jealousy, but ignored it and unfolded the letter.

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I hope the owl's figured out that it can't deliver anything before midnight! I'm so sorry you almost got caught last time! I think Trevor's finally gotten over Mum and me moving in. I can't say I blame him for his freak out; Mum isn't exactly the most normal of women. Trevor's gone into culture shock! We're both looking forward to visiting Diagon Alley next weekend, I hope you can come! It wouldn't be the same without you! If I don't see you there, I'll buy you some essentials from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, I know your parents don't let you visit that particular shop. By the way, don't forget to tell me what you want for your birthday! I probably won't get another chance to shop for you after this weekend! I need to get you something special; I still can't believe you got me a Puffskein last month! I'm going to sneak him into school __♥__ Hope to see you this weekend!_

_Missing you loads,_

_Artemis _

Scorpius set the letter and photo down on his bedside table, and then walked over to his desk. There was a water bottle sitting next to his recently finished Herbology essay, which he kept there for Artemis' owl. He poured some of the water into a little bowl and set it before the owl on his windowsill. He watched the tawny owl drink it's fill from the bowl, thinking about the upcoming weekend. He had, in fact, managed to perfectly time his visit to Diagon Alley with that of his best friend's. It would be tough to spend too much time with her, considering how much his parents disapproved of his friendship with the older Gryffindor girl. It was for that reason that her owl had been instructed to only deliver things to him after midnight in the first place.

Scorpius sighed as the owl suddenly took off, headed back towards home. He wasn't really ready to admit how jealous he was of Trevor. Trevor's father and Artemis' mother lived together as of the start of the summer, meaning that Trevor got to spend all the time he wanted with Scorpius' best friend. He couldn't help but wonder how James Potter had been taking all of this. His two closest friends spending the summer together to get used to the possibility of being siblings in the near future… Must be tough. Still, Scorpius didn't dwell on James being upset about the arrangement anymore than he did on Trevor Longbottom. He was only worried about Artemis. He picked up the picture off of his desk and watched the photograph Artemis laughing silently. He could almost hear her. Artemis had a very unusual, bubbly sort of laugh. With a smile, Scorpius realized how soon he would hear that laugh again.

He hid the letter and the photo under his bed with the rest of the stuff Artemis had sent him. He kept his room clean purposely so that his mother would have no chance at finding it. He wondered what it might be like to be one of the kids whose parents wouldn't throw a fit if they found out their son was best friends with a Gryffindor. He was envious of all of the Weasleys and Potters for that reason. For a Slytherin, this desire to be friends with a pack of kids who wore red and gold was unusual. No, it went even farther than that. Scorpius dreamed in those beautiful colors.

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Well, that's it for chapter 1! We'll be following James in the next chapter! Hope you liked it!


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